What’s more, it is used not only by small business owners, bloggers and people in the web development ecosystem, but also by some of the biggest celebrities and brands out there. Though, I’m not entirely sure Beyonce is actually aware that she has WordPress running her site, but I digress! Back on topic:

We all know what WordPress is capable of today. But what about those early versions? Do you even know what WordPress 0.7 used to look like? Or, when WordPress actually started looking like the WordPress we know now?

Let’s answer these questions today. Here’s a rundown through all of the major versions of WordPress to see how the WordPress UI has been evolving over the years.

The evolution of WordPress UI – 2003 to now

I tried getting and installing every version of WordPress from the official archive, but that turned out much more difficult than it might at first seem. Long story short, modern PHP and web servers aren’t exactly compatible with those early versions of WordPress (or, rather, it’s the other way around).

Anyhow. After a number of custom modifications to the WordPress installer files, server tweaks, and who knows what else, I managed to get most of the major versions of WordPress up and running! Here’s the evolution of WordPress UI:

TL;DR: Would you rather see a quick video instead of going through the individual interface panels below? Suit yourself:

WordPress 0.7 – where it all started – May 27, 2003

Release post. This is where it all started. Not much going on yet, though.

WordPress 1.0 “Miles” – January 3, 2004

Release post. Permalinks, multiple categories, comment moderation, all that and more we got in WordPress 1.0.